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Two Sides of a Forgotten Coin
The 17th District of the West Rukongai was often referred to as the "Town of Arts". Painters, sculptors, poets, dancers, singers and theater houses populated the streets, advertising their crafts in such bright colors and lights the district was said to be brighter at night than during daytime. It also was home to some very respectable brothels, which some might count as an artform too. The streets were crowded with people at all times; young couples seeking to immortalize their love, a family with eager kids attending a performance, a wealthy old man seeking to add to his art collection and so many others. Through that crowd casually walked a lone father, his eight year old daughter at his side. One might expect the little girl to scream in amazement at the various scents and spectacles she passed by, to pull at her father's hand in an attempt to buy that figurine of a swan for her, or that sunset painting, or to attend that famous play about a warrior princess. The father would chuckle and tease her, promising he would treat her to some kind of sweets to hush her and try to check out a gift for his wife maybe. Instead, the two of them moved forward with an almost mechanical pace. The man's face looked like it was permanently hewed in boredom, while the girl's face lacked any kind of sensation at all. At least in the man's eyes one could see some kind of memory of light, some indication that they had once been sparkling and deforming with joy, but the girl simply looked like her emotions were carefully dissected along with her navel cord - even the way she gripped her father's hand made it seem like she only did it out of necessity, just like another person would breath or watch out for glass when he was walking barefoot. Which she was, by the way. Not that anyone seemed to care. The artists shouted through the open windows of their shops like street vendors, the crowd buzzed with excitement and praise and the day passed by like any other in the 17th District. The father and his daughter turned left and walked into a tattoo shop which already was filled with a line of customers. The artist stopped his work for a moment to raise an eyebrow at the age of the girl, but then raised his shoulders and went back to his Irezumi. Father and daughter however, did not join in line, but instead walked to the back of the shop. They came to a stand-still a few meters away from the cash register, which the shopkeeper did not like very much. "Hey, what the hell do you think you're-" The couple did not pay any attention to the man, or to any of the other costumers. "This should be about right" The man whispered blandly. The child nodded and wrapped her arms around her father's shoulder and her legs around his hips, although the stiffness by which she performed this robbed the gesture of any tenderness. The man raised himself, took a step closer to the direction of the cash register, and while the tattoo artist jumped out of his seat and reached for his blade, the man whispered "Ippo, Nagare". The blade fell clattered on the floor of the shop when the man and his daughter vanished into nothingness. 17 districts, a giant sekkiseki wall, some streets and a few sliding doors further, the kitchen of the Ninth Division was blown apart when the man and his daughter appeared in the middle of it. As the girl lowered herself, she and the man stayed silent for a few tense seconds. When no response seemed to come, they began moving through the area, checking rooms and scouting for bugs or cameras. It seemed the information Mūbiki had received had been correct. Most of the Division's upper members, including the captain and lieutenant had been summoned regarding a security breach on the other end of Seireitei. Fast, without real attention to remaining silent - if anyone had heard the explosion, a few footsteps surely wouldn't matter - Mūbiki began moving in the direction of the captain's office. Classified information regarding the Soul King was said to have been stored there, and he wasn't planning on not getting his hands on it. The girl moved in his shadow, her eyes staring forward but not seeing anything. "The hell was that?" Reiji mumbled as he pulled himself from his meditation. He had been trying to establish a connection with Onikage and gain access to his inner world. He had no such luck and was just about to call it quits when a loud noise grabbed his attention. His head shot up from it's stooped position and within seconds he was on the move towards the Captain's office, Onikage in hand. As he neared the office, Reiji thought he heard the sound of footsteps. Mūbiki's eyes narrowed as soon as he felt reiatsu flare up to his right. He had detected the reiryoku source when he came in, but given its stable flow he had assumed the Shinigami had been sleeping. In any case, it seemed he was awake now. The captain's office was right in front of them, but it was positioned in a hallway that bent to the right, and from behind that corner the source of reiatsu was approaching. "Lil". The command was nothing but the father stating the name of his daughter, but somehow that was enough for her to comprehend the entire situation. She veered off in the direction of the turn, placing her left foot right where the wall made its 90° degree turn and used it to launch herself in a spinning kick, her right leg positioned so it would meet up exactly with the approaching Shinigami's face. Reiji had been on edge the instant he started moving. Not encountering anybody on his way to the captain's office hadn't done much to help his growing sense of paranoia. It was that reason alone that Reiji was able to duck under the kick that came just as he rounded a corner. Without breaking stride Reiji slid to his knees, just as the kick passed above his head. As he stopped sliding, Reiji returned to his feet and spun around to face his attacker, Onikage at the ready. He was a little surprised to see a young girl dressed in dark clothes turn to look at him impassively. "Who are you?" he asked slightly lowering his zanpakuto. He had not noticed the man standing off a bit to his side. A voiced coming from his side answered his question. "We're your father." Mūbiki had heard that question a thousand times too many to even bother seriously answering it. Continuing with his mission like nothing happened, he stepped forward and broke the seal on the captain's door like it was nothing. "Lil" he stated again, before stepping into the office. Before the shinigami could even move, the little girl had already positioned herself between him and the door, blocking his way into the office. Although one might assume she would take on a fighting stance, this was all but true. Lil just stood there, arms dangling at her side, like a little kid who understood nothing about the situation. Her gaze was nothing like a child's though, empty and abandoned, fixated on Reiji's body, ready to react the second he would make a move. "Hey," Reiji said, lifting his arm in protest as he moved toward the door, "you're not allowed in there." He tightened the grip on his sword, ready to use at a moments notice. The instant Reiji's arm had reached a horizontal position, it suddenly grew heavier. Looking to his side, he found the little girl's feet positioned near his wrist and shoulder and her body arched forward. Before Reiji could move or shake her off, the girl's arm was already moving down in an open palm strike, intended on either shattering Reiji's elbow or breaking his arm in half. Reiji flash stepped away just before Lil's strike could land, leaving the girl hovering in midair for a moment. As the girl descended, Reiji reappeared in front of her, leg pulled back to deliver a powerful kick. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to talk this through?" he asked before launching his kick. Thrown off balance by the sudden disappearance of her foothold and with her strike hitting nothing but thin air, Lil tumbled to the ground and was hit right in the spine. The force of the kick knocked her a few meters backwards, but she was on her feet again in a second, as if nothing had happened. She flashed forward and launched another strike at Reiji, although of an entirely different nature. Her hand clenched in a tiny fist, she aimed directly for Reiji's diaphragm. The punch was nothing special, but that wouldn't less the impact of it should it land. The blow landed, knocking Reiji off the floor putting him flying back a few meters, and his breath from his lungs. "I'll take that as a no." He grumbled as he lay face down on the floor trying to get his breath back. After a few moments Reiji pulled himself off the floor and noticed his shadow stretched out before him. "The brightest light shall cast the darkest shadow, Onikage." as the words left his mouth, Reiji's zanpakuto shifted from its katana form into a black chinese broadsword. His shikai released, Reiji held his sword to his side and beckoned the girl forward. Lil didn't seem to notice the change in Reiji's sword. Swaying to the right and pushing herself off from against the wall, she spun around her axis once in mid-air and then positioned herself so her leg would slam against Reiji's shoulder. Meanwhile, only a few meters away, Mūbiki had casually lowered himself into the captain's comfortable chair and was scanning through the documents lying on the desk. It didn't even occur to him that Lil wouldn't be able to handle the Shinigami outside. Reiji made no move to dodge or block Lil's attack as she descended on him. Reiji's shadow was another story though. Lil's attack was halted just centimeters from Reiji's shoulder as something grabbed her attacking leg and the opposite arm, dangling her in midair. "Meet Onikage, my Zanpakuto." Reiji said gesturing to the shadowy being that had stopped Lil's attack. Holding Lil in the air was a perfect silhouette of Reiji, only instead of legs, there was an elongated torso that stretched down to the floor and connected to Reiji's feet. With out another word Reiji slashed Onikage at Lil's torso. Most Shinigami would never really experience how it felt to hack through the chest of an eight year old girl, but it seemed that Reiji was the exception to this phenomenon. The blade went through like butter, slicing through the soft tendons and flesh with minimal effort. Lil didn't even flinch when she was butchered, nor did she really react when the shadow loosened its grip and she bounced on the cold floor of the Ninth Division's barracks. With her gaze as empty as always, directed at the wall, the blood began to seep from her wound and form an expanding puddle around her. Since the door was open, Mūbiki had beheld the entire spectacle, but he hardly seemed bothered by it. Reiji turned to face Mūbiki, Lil's blood dripping from Onikage's blade, and in sharp contrast to the intruder's seemingly emotionless face, Reiji's face was contorted into a grim, almost sadistic smile. With slow yet unmeasured steps Reiji approached the Captain's office. "Can you hear them?" he asked before leaping into the air, Oinkage held high. "CAN YOU HEAR THE DRUMS?" ''he cried as he brought Onikage down towards Mūbiki's head. Right when he was floating above the desk, his blade barely a meter away from Mūbiki, Reiji suddenly came to a halt. Defying gravity, it took him a few seconds to realize what exactly was keeping him suspended in mid-air. The tiny hand, fingers squeezed together to resemble a knife, sticking out from between his ribs turned out to be the cause. Mūbiki looked up from the papers he was reading with mild interest, as if he had only just noticed the rampaging Shinigami. He spared Reiji one glance before going back to searching through the captain's documents. "Turning your back towards an opponent? It seems they teach less and less at the academy with every generation." When Reiji looked over his shoulder to see the source of the arm running through his body, he could see Lil's maimed body, her feet trembling on the desk as her blood still dripped down. Her wound hadn't been healed or treated, if anything her movements had only torn the seems further and aggravated it. She retracted her arm and let Reiji fall down before positioning herself again between him and Mūbiki, leaving bloody footprints on the paperwork. Mūbiki turned a page and weakly urged her to get out of his way. "Watch where you're stepping Lil." "Ok... that hurt." Reiji said as he pulled himself to his feet, hand pressed over his fresh wound. Blood welled through his fingers as he leaned against a wall. "Guess that makes us even huh kid?" Lil's trembling worsened and she slipped off the desk. Hitting the ground front-first, she stood up with a broken and bloody nose disfiguring her cute face. The blood loss was taking a toll on her, but even though her body was protesting she was still continuing like nothing was going on. With the wound stretching from her right shoulder down to her left hip, her flesh stretched and tore as she pulled her right arm back and charged at Reiji once again, launching a barrage of punches to end the shinigami before her own body would give in. Reiji groaned as he flash stepped past the charging girl, positioning himself and his shadow behind her. Blood spewed from his wound and mouth as he erupted into a coughing fit. As Reiji fell to his knees, his shadow brought it self up, ready to drive its shadowy blade through Lil's back. The girl launched herself upwards into a backwards flip, easily dodging the attack. She landed lightly on her feet, her hand positioned so it would hit Reiji exactly on the bridge of his nose, breaking it and sending shattered pieces of bone into his brain, immediately killing him. However, when she retracted her arm to perform said lethal movement, her body didn't know when to stop and she simply fell backwards, no longer moving. Mūbiki got out of his chair, pushing a bundle of paperwork down his back pocket. "Yare yare, you must have hit something vital there. Usually she doesn't go down that fast." He moved his hand toward Lil's face, as if to heal her or at least check up on her pulse, but instead he reached into her mouth and pulled out an over two meter long sword. How that monstrosity had fit into Lil's tiny body was a mystery. Swinging the massive blade around like it was nothing, he let the tip rest gently against the base of Reiji's neck, his arteries pulsing heavily beneath the cold steel. "Are you willing to die to protect the secrets of Soul Society boy?" "I'm in no mood to die today sir." Reiji said rising to his feet, "But I can't just let you go either." With that he tightend his grip on Onikage's hilt. and slapped Mūbiki's monster of a sword away from his throat before stepping in closer to kick out Mūbiki's knee. But where Reiji expected to hit cartilage and flesh, he only hit thin air. Mūbiki had disappeared and with no knee of any sort to halt Reiji's kick, he stumbled forward and almost tripped. Mūbiki appeared again a few meters to Reiji's side, in front of the desk. "Well, since we've got a hero here we might as well clear the stage for him." Mūbiki bent his leg and pushed the desk back, an almost neglectful gesture that still was enough to ram the piece of furniture through the wall of the barracks, into the door post of the opposite neighbor's. Reiji held Onikage in front of him as he carefully stepped around his new opponent. "Just what exactly are you after?" he asked trying to keep his attention off of Reiji's shadow as it slowly positioned itself for the best possible spot for attack or defense. '''What I wouldn't give for a Bankai right now.' ''he thought. as he positioned himself in front of the new hole in the wall. "Or are you just here for laughs?" Mūbiki retrieved the papers he had taken from the desk out of his pocket and waved them at Reiji. "I was in desperate need of some Chinese but it seems I lost my menu. Just that really." He swung his sword backwards, letting it rest on his shoulder and approached Reiji without a care in the world. "Come on boy, do you honestly think you or that wall could stop me if I tried anything?" To his left, a small purple conservatory of reiatsu suddenly enclosed itself around Lil and began to heal her injuries. ''Took her long enough. He raised the blade from his shoulder and pointed it at Reiji. Despite them being on almost opposite ends of the room, the steel almost met the Shinigami's chest. "This blade could be sticking between your ribs before your next breath, so let's just avoid such an unpleasant situation altogether and go our separate ways, shall we?" "To be honest, no I don't think I could stop you no matter what I tried. Even I can see the difference between us is as colossal as the difference between me and the Head Captain." As he spoke he lifted Onikage and lightly touched Mūbiki's blade, "That being said, you invaded my barracks, are attempting to steal from my captain and attacked me without provocation. I cannot allow to you to escape. Even at the cost of my life." With that Reiji let his reiatsu loose and stepped forward, slapping Mūbiki's blade aside while his shadow emerged from the floor, stabbing at Mūbiki's stomach. Either attacks hit nothing but air. Before Reiji could register Mūbiki had moved, he could already feel the cold steel resting on his neck. Twisting his head as far he dared, he could see that Mūbiki was right behind him, sword in right hand and the little girl in his other. Purple strings of kanji slowly slithered across her skin like luminous snakes, slipping into her wounds, mouths and nostrils. "I'm afraid I'll escape and you'll lose your life." Reiji closed his eyes and waited for Mūbiki to finish him. Only instead of the feeling of steel parting flesh Reiji was surprised to find that he couldn't feel his own reiatsu. "And I'm afraid you'll find that you're only half right, Mūbiki." a new voice announced from behind Mūbiki, its speaker placing a hand on Mūbiki's shoulder. "Captain?" Reiji whispered as he slowly began to turn. Standing there with a smile on his face, his right hand on Mūbiki's shoulder and his zanpakuto in his left hand, was the captain of Squad 9 Keizen Omura. Mūbiki pushed Reiji away from him and turned around. "Does that mean you'll let me escape or that I get to kill the boy?" With Lil still hung over his shoulder like a bag of flour, he now raised his sword in the captain's direction. "Strange how you know my name. I can't say I remember-" Before Keizen's eyes, Mūbiki suddenly vanished, even though his final word still resonated from the same location "you." Mūbiki came back into existence in a crouched position, behind the captain, sword moving upwards in a motion designed to tear open his spine. The blade never reached Keizen, as a shimmering barrier of light appeared just as Mūbiki's blade was centimeters away from Keizen's back. The barrier shattered from the strength of Mūbiki's strike, but Keizen was unharmed as the captain calmly walked toward Reiji. "Oh don't worry too much about it. You're free to go." Reiji opened his mouth to protest but a raised hand from Keizen cut short any protest he was about to make. "I'm sorry if my subordinate caused you any trouble." "Oh, you mean this?" Mūbiki raised Lil a bit further up his shoulder. "It's her own fault, really. She isn't very good at 'connecting the dots' you know. Even if Mr. Hero's shadow would have attacked her a hundred times, she wouldn't have figured out that he was in control." Sinking into a more relaxed position, Mūbiki let his blade rest on his free shoulder. "So, what are you planning to do now, captain?" Keizen smiled as he glanced around the room, "Well I suppose I should start by finding my desk. You guys seemed to have had fun redecorating my office." Reiji looked down shamefully as Keizen clapped a hand on his shoulder. It was then that Keizen noticed the wound on Reiji's chest, "Had a spot of trouble did you Reiji? Looks like they managed to make you 'hollow'." Reiji flushed deep red at his captain's joke. "Yare yare, seems all the moxie from before has vanished. Does this guy have a crush on you or something?" "Anyways" Mūbiki turned around and stepped out of the giant hole in the wall. "It was fun meeting you all, but I still need to stop by the library so I'll leave you two alone." He turned around and flashed a smirk Reiji's way. "Who knows, maybe he'll confess." While he spoke, the hand that was holding Lil in place by her legs began to glow an eery green. Reiji immediately dropped into a trembling defensive stance at the sudden green glow. Keizen in contrast, stood still as a statue, eye brow raised slightly at Reiji's jumpiness. "On your way out would you mind pushing my desk back in here please." he remarked as he picked his chair off the ground. "Oh and good one." "You know captain, I could have left a long time ago. I could have vanished from this very spot with everything I need and you wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it. Yet I'm still here. I was thinking you'd be at least a bit of an interesting fellow." He turned his palm towards the two Shinigami without even looking at them. The energy surrounding his hand seemed to solidify, transforming into a foam-like liquid. The foam detached itself from Mūbiki's hands, shaped into a bubble. For a few seconds, the green bubble, now having grown to the size of a full man's chest, simply floated in the empty space between Mūbiki and his opponents. The fact that this full-grown Shinigami just had blown a bubble was so unusual that it was almost funny. But then the bubble suddenly collapsed into itself and the building was torn apart by the implosion. Reiji only had enough time to flinch before the bubble 'popped', Keizen on the other hand had sensed what was happening at the last second, and quickly casted a Danku in front of Reiji, but didn't have enough time to do the same for himself. As a result the force of the blast was significantly lessened on Reiji, to the point where he was only pushed back a few inches, while Keizen felt the full brunt of the implosion, and was thrown several meters across the destroyed building. "Captain!" Reiji shouted as he started toward his fallen superior. The devoted sixth seat was thrown to the ground when a small feet planted itself firmly between his ribs. The kick had been launched from a platform of rubble, and due to the lack of a stable launch it lacked much of its normal strength. As such, it only succeeded in diverting the young shinigami from his course. When he looked up, his eyes met the familiar sight of the little girl Reiji could have sworn he killed before. His sword wound was undeniable, both because of the scar etched into her skin and the tattered remains of her kimono dangling around her scrawny body. Weak purple pulses of light traveled up and down her cause of death, the undeveloped chest it deformed heaving up and down frantically. Lil placed both of her tiny feet so she blocked Reiji's sight on his captain, although it was undeniable the pair of legs sheathed in black trousers he could perceive near the fallen body belonged to her patron. Mūbiki rolled Keizen over with the tip of his foot, satisfied to see he had been able to avoid any serious damage from the kidō through a smart application of his reiatsu. An inventive one, we have here But much time left there was not. The sound of the implosion must have alarmed the other Divisions, and although Mūbiki knew they couldn't gather a force sufficiently challenging for him at such short notice, he would prefer to keep his operations as covert as possible. Still, if he was here, he might as well make use from the situation. "Now that I remember, I would require the fingerprint of a captain to enter said library. Since you have 10 of them anyway, I sure you wouldn't mind passing one of these to me, taichō?" He pinned Keizen's left arm down with his foot and placed the tip of his blade between his middle and index fingers, an act that went a thousand times less smoothly due to Shunjū's overbearing length. "You should be thankful I'll be taking this useless one. If I removed your pinkie you'd never been able to properly hold a sword again." Reiji fought to his feet, dull thuds echoing in his head, and glared at the little girl who'd caused him so much trouble. He started chuckling to himself as he pointed Onikage's black blade at her. "I'm going to cut you into pieces." he stated before swinging his blade down from the right at a diagonal angle. At the same moment his shadow emerged and attacked horizontally from the left. Keizen groaned, more out of annoyance than pain, as Mūbiki pinned his sword arm with his foot. The man's words were muffled by the ringing in the Captain's ears but he understood the gist of what his attacker was saying. Especially when he felt the cold steel of Mūbiki's zanpakuto edge its way between his middle and index fingers. As the blade began to bite into Keizen's middle finger, the slightly dazed captain was able to lift his right hand and point at Mūbiki. "Hado #4, Byakurai." Instead of moving backwards, out of range of both of the attacks, which would be the most reasonable answer to such an attack, Lil moved forward. Her tiny posture gave her the advantage at close-range, where Reiji's long limbs would only hinder his capability to deliver a proper strike. As such, she moved until her face was a hair's breadth away from Reiji's chest, where his physical blade could not reach her. Spinning on her right foot, she deflected the shadow with her other and then continued the motion until she had made a full turn and her leg was about to slam into Reiji's upper leg, as that was the highest she could kick. Not even flinching at the kidō assault, Mūbiki's lips rapidly formed a pair of words, of which Keizen could only discern "Usapo". The bolt of lightning flew at Mūbiki's person and continued its path without being disturbed in the slightest. It wasn't even like it had phased through him, but more like it had failed to recognize there had been an obstacle in its way at all. Mūbiki flashed a weak grin at Keizen's weak attempt at self-defense and moved his sword upwards. A quick flash step safely moved Reiji from the path of the girl's kick, right behind her. Meeting with nothing, Lil's momentum carried her kick around for another arc. Reiji braced himself as he lashed out with his free hand and caught Lil's leg by her ankle. With a savage spin of his own, Reiji lifted the girl into the air before preparing to slam her into the floor. Had a feeling that wouldn't work. ''Keizen thought through grit teeth as Mūbiki's blade cut deeper into his finger, all the way to the bone. Keizen saw his zanpakuto lying just out of the reach of his fingers. Desperately he tried to stretch his arm out just to touch the hilt of his blade. He was unable to move his arm an inch however, due to Mūbiki's foot pinning it to the ground. Thinking quickly Keizen began to focus his reiatsu at the spot where Mūbiki's foot pinned his arm and created an unspoken . Lil's hand touched upon the ground when Reiji moved her down and prevented any further damage. Grabbing the edge of the upturned slab of concrete she was supporting herself on, Lil swung into a handstand, effectively elevating Reiji with her and threatening now to slam ''him into the ground when she let herself fall down again to the other side. Feeling the reiatsu build up under his foot, Mūbiki smirked and merely exerted some extra pressure. The weak barrier shattered under his foot like glass. It was kind of disappointing, seeing the captain's feeble attempts to free himself. With a swift jerk, Mūbiki separated the finger from his body and moved his foot down the captain's limb, to his side. He shoved him away and bowed down to store the finger safely in his pocket. Reiji was slammed into the ground with a surprising amount of force. In fact if his shadow hadn't sprung up at the last second to catch him and cushion the blow, Reiji was pretty sure he'd be paralyzed. With a groan he rolled over to his stomach before pushing himself up to his knees. Before Keizen was shoved away, he used the brief moment his hand was free to grab his zanpakuto. He was unable to take a swing at Mūbiki however. As he slid on the floor Keizen rolled to his feet and spun on the balls of his feet as Mūbiki knelt down to grab his finger. "Well it's about damn time." he muttered before pointing at the severed finger. "Hado #96 Ittō Kasō" Suddenly the finger in Mūbiki's hand cracked open with glowing red lines. Before the finger could explode Keizen flash stepped over to Reiji before flash stepping again, his subordinate in hand. When Keizen and Reiji reappeared they were on the other side of the compound. A bright red tower of spirit energy erupted from the ground from where they had been just seconds ago. "Stay here Reiji. I'm going back. Reinforcements should be arriving soon." "I'm coming with you Capt..." Reiji started. "No you're not." Keizen interrupted. "You'll only get in my way." Reiji was silenced as Keizen took a few steps toward the dying explosion. "You have something you want to ask don't you?" "I couldn't do anything back there." Reiji started, "I couldn't even beat the little girl. How the hell am I supposed to fight against people who outclass me in every way?" Keizen stopped, glanced over his shoulder, "Learn Bankai." and just like that Keizen was gone. Back to the battle. Mūbiki and Lil watched the spell erupt from a comfortable distance. Mūbiki had unfortunately spent most of the era during which sacrificial spells has gained their popularity as hollow and eventually Arrancar, leaving him not as familiar with their exact workings. Nonetheless, the window of time wherein the reishi particles were transformed into raw reiryoku had provided Mūbiki more than enough time to secure both Lil and himself. Nonetheless, he has to sigh at the scorched remains of his right sleeve - it seemed he had underestimated the captain's affinity for kidō. Like any man would take in the air with every breath, Mūbiki took in the reishi particles of the Seireitei. He could feel the eons they had witnessed, and what powers they would provide should he decide to release his zanpakutō. But that was a step he didn't plan to take for a long while, not when his competition proved to be so underwhelming for the time being. "Lil" The girl yet again seemed to understand all of Mūbiki's intentions with just the statement of her name, and she charged towards the position of the captain. Mūbiki remained stationary, but given his skills the distance between him and his opponent made no real difference. Keizen could feel the girl approaching at high speeds. For a moment Keizen entertained the thought of releasing his zanpakuto before deciding against it for the moment. Instead he held put his hand out facing the direction of the approaching girl. "Bakudo #63 Sajo Sabaku." When he finished his spell, numerous chains of golden energy launched from his hand towards Lil as she came into view. With a graceful somersault, Lil flew above the initial course of the chains. They quickly caught on to her new route, however, slithering upwards in an attempt to bind her. Touching down gently on the solid energy, Lil began running towards Keizen, actually using the spell as a gangway to reach her opponent faster. When she neared the captain, she pushed herself of the chain and initiated a fall that would drive her heel straight into Keizen's skull. As Lil descended Keizen flash stepped to side, allowing Lil's foot to connect to the ground and crack the floor around her. When Keizen reappeared a glowing rod was held in his right hand. He pulled it back like he would before throwing a spear. "Bakudo #62 Hyapporankan." After he threw the solidified kido the rod separated into a hundred identical rods. "Sky above, come to my aid and banish my foe to the four corners of the world. Kamikaze." Recovering quickly from her avoided assault, Lil planted her feet firmly into the broken soil and intercept the incoming kido with the back of her hands, redirecting dozens of rods before one of them grasped her kimono and she was pinned to the ground by the rest. With apathy in her eyes, she tried to slider her body over the silver rods perforating her body, but seeing how they were nearly longer than her this task proved to be impossible. With a third of the rods broken in half, another third stabbed through her and the final third still pinning her down, she witnessed the captain's release disinterestedly. However, her eyebrows did knit together and her mouth almost moved when a wave of air washed over her. Then, Mūbiki was in front of the little girl, a cylindrical, amber-colored barrier veined with red protecting the both of them from Kamikaze's release.